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The team from Charity Navigator, the nation's largest independent charity evaluator and leading donor advocate, shares their thoughts on emerging nonprofit-sector issues and offers tips to better inform your intelligent giving decisions.

Monday, June 8, 2015

America, Home to the Brave and the Charitable

Last week, we published our 11th Metro Market Study. In this annual report, we analyze differences in the financial, accountability and transparency practices of charities located in various metropolitan markets across America. Here are some of the findings from the study:

Market Size: New York City (932 large charities), D.C. (686) and L.A. (317) are more crowded and competitive philanthropic markets than Indianapolis (49), Colorado Springs (49) and Orlando (51).

CEO Compensation: Charity executives in New York City ($195,758) and D.C. ($185,593) earn considerably more than those in Orlando ($109,695) and Portland ($111,368).

Program Expenses: Detroit’s charities (85%) devote the largest percentage of their spending to their programs and services while Indianapolis charities spend the least (79%).

Annual Growth: Charities in Miami and San Francisco show the greatest growth in spending on programs, while charities in Orlando and Detroit report the least growth.

Level of Contributions: Donors to charities in Miami ($5 million), New York City ($4.6 million) and Kansas City ($4.6 million) are especially generous as these charities report the highest median contributions in the study. Charities in Tampa/St. Petersburg ($2.5 million), Orlando ($2.5 million) and Seattle ($2.8 million) report the lowest median contributions.

Assets and Working Capital: The largest charities in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Cleveland are generally richer in assets and working capital than charities in other parts of the country, while charities in Phoenix, Colorado Springs and D.C. are less financially secure.

Accountability & Transparency: Charities in Houston, San Diego and Portland earn the highest scores for their commitment to being accountable and transparent while charities in Nashville, Seattle and Pittsburgh score somewhat lower.

Financial Health: The largest charities in Nashville, Miami and Houston earn higher scores for their overall financial health than those in Portland, Orlando and St. Louis.

Donor Privacy Policy: Portland (66%) has the highest percentage of charities with written donor privacy policies (stating that the charity will not sell, trade or share its donors’ personal information with anyone else, nor send mailings on behalf of other organizations); Nashville (34%) has the lowest percentage of charities with such policies.

Types of Charities: Approximately 40% of the largest charities in Kansas City, St. Louis and Tampa/St. Petersburg are classified as Human Services making these philanthropic marketplaces less diverse in terms of the types of charities represented.